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■p  ~  /• 

THE 

North  Central  Association  of 
Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools 

ITS  NATURE,  PURPOSES  and 
ACCOMPLISHMENT 

f 

By  HORACE  A.  HOLLISTER 


Reprinted  from  School  and  Home  Education 
For  February ,  1911 


PUBLIC -SCHOOL  PUBLISHING  CO 
BLOOMINGTON,  ILLINOIS 


THE  NORTH  CENTRAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  COLLEGES 
AND  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS. 

Its  Nature,  Purposes  and  Accomplishments . 

By  Horace  A.  Hoclistkr. 

After  fifteen  years  of  active  existence,  during  which  time  the 
annual  proceedings  have  been  regularly  published,  it  seems  that 
there  is  still  considerable  misapprehension  as  to  the  nature  and 
function  of  this  organization.  To  those  who  are  familiar  with  its 
workings  by  participation  this  lack  of  generally  disseminated  infor¬ 
mation  is  not  remarkable.  For  while  the  work  of  the  association 
has  often  been  intense  it  has  never  approached  the  noisy  and, 
scarcely  ever,  the  spectacular.  It  is  distinctly  a  working  body, 
dealing  consistently  with  those  problems  set  for  itself  as  first  con¬ 
stituted. 

It  is  with  the  feeling  that  the  success  of  the  work  which  the 
North  Central  Association  of  Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools  has 
been  called  to  undertake  depends  upon  a  wider  knowledge  of  this 
work  among  those  interested  in  education  that  this  brief  resume 
of  its  character  and  work  is  presented.  If  any  apology  is  due  from 
the  writer  for  such  an  undertaking  it  must  be  because  this  work 
has  already  been  so  well  done  by  two  of  those  who  have  served  as 
presidents  of  the  Association.*  But  the  proceedings  of  these  meet¬ 
ings  are  not  widely  circulated ;  hence  the  thought  that  a  still  wider 
publicity  is  needed. 

In  March,  1894,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Michigan  Schoolmasters’ 
Club,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  investigate  and  report  on  the 
condition  of  secondary  school  work  throughout  the  United  States. 
In  December  of  the  same  year  a  partial  report  was  presented.  This 
resulted  in  asking  the  presidents  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  the 

*See  President’s  address  by  Q,  N.  Carman,  Proe,  8th  session,  and  P.  L,. 
Harris,  Proc.  of  10th  session. 


2 


University  of  Wisconsin,  Northwestern  University,  and  the  Uni¬ 
versity  of  Chicago  to  unite  with  a  committee  of  the  Club  in  issuing 
a  call  for  a  meeting  to  form  an  association  of  schools  and  colleges 
of  the  North  Central  States.  This  was  done,  and  the  first  meeting 
convened  on  the  29th  of  March,  1895,  at  Northwestern  University, 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  permanent  organization. 

There  were  present  at  this  meeting  the  representatives  of  lead¬ 
ing  universities,  colleges  and  schools  from  Ohio,  Michigan,  In¬ 
diana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin*  Iowa  and  Missouri.  A  permanent  or¬ 
ganization  was  provided  for,  and  the  first  regular  meeting  of  the 
North  Central  Association  of  Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools  was 
set  to  convene  in  March,  1896,  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  with 
President  James  B.  Angell  of  Michigan  University  as  its  first 
president. 

At  the  very  outset  it  was  proposed  to  discuss  such  questions  as 
“What  Constitutes  a  Secondary  School?”  “What  Constitutes  a 
College?”  The  question  of  uniform  requirements  for  admission  to 
colleges  also  found  an  early  hearing.  In  all  these  and  ensuing  dis¬ 
cussions  secondary  and  college  men,  have  mingled  and  participated 
freely.  The  Association  has  met  annually  at  about  the  same  time 
of  year.  All  of  the  fifteen  sessions  except  two  have  been  held  in 
Chicago.  These  exceptions  are  the  fifth  which  met  at  St  Louis  in 
1900,  and  the  seventh  which  met  at  Cleveland  in  1902.  Those  who 
have  served  as  presidents  are:  President  James  B.  Angell,  1896; 
President  James  H.  Canfield,  1898;  Assistant  Superintendent 
A.  F.  Nightingale,  1899;  President  William  F.  Slocum,  1900; 
Inspector  George  B.  Aiton,  1901 ;  Chancellor  W.  S.  Chaplin,  1902; 
Director  George  N.  Carman,  1903 ;  President  Andrew  S.  Draper, 
1904;  Principal  F.  L.  Bliss,  1905;  President  George  E.  McLean, 
1906;  Principal  E.  L.  Harris,  1907;  President  Edmund  J.  James, 
1908;  Principal  E.  W.  Coy,  1909  ;  Dean  Calvin  M.  Woodward, 
1910;  Principal  George  W.  Benton,  President  elect  for  1911.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  general  policy  has  been  to  divide  honors  be¬ 
tween  the  college  and  secondary  men  about  equally.  This  has  been 
true  of  other  officers,  as  well  as  of  all  important  assignments  on 
programs  or  committees. 


3 


From  the  beginning  there  have  been  represented  in  the  mem¬ 
bership,  both  of  institutions  and  individuals,  the  very  best  institu¬ 
tions,  secondary  and  higher,  public  and  private,  of  the  North  Cen¬ 
tral  States.  Probably  no  similar  organization  can,  show  a  group  of 
stronger  men  and  women,  of  those  who  have  been  among  the  lead¬ 
ers  of  the  most  important  educational  movement  of  their  time. 

Organized  as  a  working  body,  the  machinery  of  organization 
has  been  kept  at  a  minimum,  and  petty  politics,  so  often  the  bane 
of  our  American  organizations,  has,  as  yet,  found  no  place  here. 
Article  II  of  the  constitution  as  originally  adopted  reads :  “The 
object  of  this  Association  shall  be  to  establish  closer  relations  be¬ 
tween  the  colleges  and  the  secondary  schools  of  the  North  Central 
States.”  This  is  a  plain  and  definite  statement  of  a  purpose 
which  gave  rise  to  the  organization  at  the  beginning,  and  which 
has  been  consistently  adhered  to  in  all  the  subsequent  work  of  the 
Association. 

At  first  the  constitution  provided  that  memberships,  both  insti¬ 
tutional  and  individual,  with  reference  to  the  two  types  of  insti¬ 
tutions,  be  kept  as  nearly  equal  in  numbers  as  practicable.  Later, 
as  applications  for  membership  increased,  it  appeared  that  those 
from  Secondary  Schools  were  much  more  numerous  than  those 
from  Colleges  and  Universities.  In  1908,  the  constitution  was 
amended  so  as  to  remove  all  restriction  on  the  number  who  might 
represent  the  Secondary  Schools.  At  the  session  of  1910,  the  mem¬ 
bership  was  as  follows :  Institutional  members,  Colleges  and  Uni¬ 
versities,  57;  Secondary  Schools,  94.  Individual  members,  Col¬ 
leges  and  Universities,  35;  Secondary  Schools,  26;  making  a  total 
institutional  membership  of  151,  and  61  of  individual  members. 

We  have  said  that  the  original  purpose  of  the  Association  has 
been  adhered  to  throughout.  If  evidence  of  the  correctness  of  this 
statement  is  needed  it  will  readily  appear  in  the  record  of  the  things 
undertaken  and  accomplished  by  this  organization.  Early  in  its 
history  the  Association  set  its  approval  upon  the  elective  system  in 
the  secondary  program,  and  accepted  as  its  working  principle  the 
certificate  plan  of  admission  to  college  as  based  on  inspection  of 
Secondary  Schools  throughout  the  North  Central  group  of  states. 


4 


Article  IV  of  the  Constitution  reads  thus :  “All  the  decisions 
of  the  Association  bearing  upon  the  policy  and  management  of 
higher  and  secondary  institutions  are  understood  to  be  advisory  in 
their  character.”  Thus  a  voluntary  association  of  representatives 
of  the  two  types  of  institutions  included  has  undertaken  to  discuss 
common  interests  with  the  view  to  eliminating  differences,  reducing 
friction,  and  avoiding  the  waste  from  duplication  of  efforts,  with¬ 
out,  in  any  way  interfering  with  the  rights  and  interests  of  individ¬ 
ual  institutions  or  the  educational  interests  and  methods  of  the 
individual  states  included  in  this  representation. 

Among  the  important  things  which  have  been  undertaken  by 
the  Association  are,  first,  to  define  college  entrance  requirements; 
that  is,  to  point  out  the  line  of  demarkation  between  colleges  and 
secondary  schools.  To  this  end  the  secondary  school  has  been  de¬ 
fined  as  extending  through  four  years’  time,  or  thirty-six  weeks, 
four  or  five  days  in  each  week,  devoted  to  the  study  of  a  given 
subject. 

It  early  became  evident  that  it  would  be  desirable  to  have  the 
content  of  each  unit  defined  also.  To  this  end  the  Association  has 
provided  for  the  appointment  of  representative  committees  who>  un¬ 
dertake  to  formulate  such  content  definitions  for  all  the  subjects 
presented  in  a  modern  secondary  school,  and  also  to  revise  these 
from  time  to  time. 

To  Professor  A.  S.  Whitney,  of  Michigan  University,  is  due 
the  credit  for  first  urging  uniformity  of  accrediting  of  secondary 
schools.  A  plan  for  harmonizing  state  inspections  was  presented  by 
him  at  the  sixth  meeting  in  1901.  As  a  result,  a  committee,  of 
which  Dean  S.  A.  Forbes,  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  was  chair¬ 
man,  was  appointed  to  formulate  a  plan.  This  committee  reported 
later  at  the  same  meeting  and  their  report  led  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Commission  of  Accredited  Schools,  since  changed  to  the 
Commission  on  Accredited  Schools  and  Colleges.  This  Commis¬ 
sion  was  composed  as  follows :  Six  were  to  be  appointed  as 
representing  the  colleges  and  six  as  representing  secondary  schools, 
these  to  be  named  by  the  chair.  In  addition  to  these  each  college 


5 


or  university  having  membership  in  the  Association  whose  fresh¬ 
man  class  numbers  at  least  fifty  is  entitled  to  one  delegate  repre¬ 
sentative  on  the  Commission,  and  an  equal  number  are  appointed 
as  representatives  of  the  secondary  schools. 

A  plan  and  rules  for  the  joint  accrediting  of  secondary  schools 
was  adopted  at  the  next  meeting  and  a  Board  of  Inspectors  pro¬ 
vided  for  which  makes  its  report  directly  to  the  Commission.  Thus 
all  rules  and  recommendations  in  regard  to  the  accrediting  of 
schools  by  the  North  Central  Association  are  first  discussed  and 
formulated  by  this  Board,  then  deliberated  upon  by  the  Commission 
as  a  whole  before  presentation  for  final  adoption  by  the  Association. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  a  better  scheme  for  safeguarding  the 
interests  of  all  concerned  in  such  accrediting  could  be  devised.  As 
a  result  of  the  careful  and  conservative  manner  in  which  this  work 
is  conducted  the  lists  of  schools  thus  accredited  are  coming  to  be 
recognized  by  most  institutions  both  East  and  West. 

More  recently  the  accrediting  of  such  colleges  as  may  seek  to 
be  thus  recognized  has  been  proposed  ;  but  this  has  not  yet  passed 
beyond  the  preliminary  stages.  A  committee  of  three  for  each 
state  is  provided  for  whose  duty  it  will  be  to  inspect  all  colleges 
making  application  for  accrediting  and  to  report  to  the  Commis¬ 
sion  on  Accredited  Schools  and  Colleges.  As  yet  no  inspections 
have  been  made  as  the  State  Committees  must  await  a  report  from 
a  general  committee  of  the  Commission  appointed  to  formulate 
standards  for  reports  from  colleges  applying  for  inspection,  such 
reports  to  be  taken  as  a  basis  for  standardization  by  the  inspect¬ 
ing  committees. 

It  should  be  stated  that  in  all  accrediting,  both  of  secondary 
schools  and  colleges,  it  is  expected  that  the  institution  first  express 
its  desire  to  be  accredited.  In  no  other  way  could  Article  IV  of 
the  Constitution  above  cited  be  adhered  to.  In  some  of  the  earlier 
accrediting  of  high  schools,  through  lack  of  familiarity  with  this 
article,  some  accrediting  seems  to  have  been  done  without  consult¬ 
ing  the  wishes  of  the  schools  concerned;  but  it  does  not  appear 
that  any  dissatisfaction  has  arisen  on  this  account. 


6 


Somewhat  aside  from  the  general  field  of  action  of  this  As¬ 
sociation  has  been  the  interest  which  it  has  taken  in  interscholastic 
athletics.  Much  has  been  accomplished,  through  the  efforts  of 
committees  appointed  to  investigate  conditions  in  this  department 
of  educational  work,  toward  relieving  this  phase  of  physical  train¬ 
ing  of  the  evils  which  have  developed  in  connection  with  inter- 

;  N  scholastic  games  and  meets. 

i  One  of  the  most  promising  fields  of  activity  into  which  the  As¬ 

sociation  has  entered,  rather  as  an  extension  of  the  purposes  of  its 
original  organization,  is  its  cooperation  with  other  similar  organi¬ 
zations  in  the  United  States.  For  a  number  of  years  we  have  thus 
been  represented  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Commission  on  Uni¬ 
form  College  Entrance  Requirements  in  English,  and  this  altogether 
to  our  credit. 

A  similar  association  has  been  enjoyed  with  the  work  of  the 
College  Entrance  Examination  Board.  This  association  with  other 
similar  groups  culminated,  in  1908,  in  the  organization  of  the  Na¬ 
tional  Conference  Committee  on  Standards  of  Colleges  and  Sec¬ 
ondary  Schools.  Merely  to  state  the  membership  of  this  Commit¬ 
tee  will  be  sufficient  to  suggest  the  great  significance  of  this  move¬ 
ment  and  the  far  reaching  benefits  which  may  result  from  such  a 
cooperative  action.  The  membership  is  of  delegates  from  the  fol¬ 
lowing:  The  New  England  Association  of  Colleges  and  Prepara¬ 
tory  Schools,  The  New  England  College  Entrance  Certificate  Board. 
The  Association  of  Colleges  and  Preparatory  Schools  of  the  Mid¬ 
dle  States  and  Maryland,  The  College  Entrance  Examination 
Board,  The  North  Central  Association  of  Colleges  and  Secondary 
Schools,  The  Association  of  Colleges  and  Preparatory  Schools  of 
the  Southern  States,  The  National  Association  of  State  Universi¬ 
ties,  The  Carnegie  Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching, 
and  such  other  organizations  as  may  be  elected  to  membership. 

Little  mention  has  been  made  in  this  brief  article  of  the  names 
of  those  who  have  participated  in  this  work.  We  refrain  reluct¬ 
antly  from  mentioning  the  long  list  of  those  who  have  given  freely 
of  time  and  thought  for  the  furthering  of  the  great  and  good  pur- 


7 


31 


353 


557465 


poses  for  which  the  North  Central  Association  stands.  For  fuller 
details  in  this  respect  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  published 
proceedings. 

From  an  organization  representine  seven  states  the  Association 
has  grown  until  it  now  includes  fourteen  states  in  its  institutional 
membership,  and  others  are  now  knocking  for  admission. 

Naturally  people  coming  together  as  representatives  of  some¬ 
what  widely  varying  interests  will  hold  and  seek  to  maintain  opin¬ 
ions  often  at  variance.  Is  not  the  significant  thing  about  it  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  we  do  get  together  and  deliberate,  often  with 
warmth,  but  always,  let  us  believe,  with  the  spirit  of  conciliation 
and  of  mutual  betterment? 


8 


